@Albert_Thurgood I’m curious about this, obviously Walla got more games in 2016 because of the saga and the suspensions but he would still have been drafted regardless, right? Or maybe he would have been drafted the following year…
Or is there a knock on the club for being risk averse?
He was drafted before the suspensions
Being out of the state, I have to rely on what gets posted on Blitz. The memory I had was that @benfti and possibly others were telling us about him playing in Gippsland and we should get him to the Club. Then we did get him to the VFL which we all applauded. Then we all wanted him in the senior side, but that didn’t’t happen for a while.
Ben did point out that the fitness issues people were complaining about could b overcome if he was given a chance to work full time in a professional environment like others get to do.
I do recall when we finally did draft him to the senior side back in 2015 - was a great day.
I just searched for the post I made then - here it is:
That is my memory which I admit may be imperfect, so I hope benfti can provide more supporting information.
The draft is in October/November, bans came down in January
There has been a knock on the club for being risk averse particularly with indigenous kids but I’m not sure if that’s the relevant factor here. He wasn’t fit enough in U18s and when he started VFL.
They obviously knew he was a solid character, as he was employed at the club before he was on the AFL list.
There’s dozens of examples where we made the wrong call. This is not one IMO.
GOTY. The handball to him was also superb under extreme pressure.
Yeah, I was wanting us to drafted Walla at least one year, and possibly up to three years, before we actually did. After his first VFL season it was an absolute travesty he wasn’t on the list. And even when we finally did take him, we left him to the last rookie pick while we shoved Eades (who wasn’t half the player) straight onto the main list. I’ll really never understand what the club was thinking there.
Maybe you just bumped into a lost Bournemouth supporter!
the argument at the time was we took Jake Long a year early and should have picked walla instead. as he was more ready and Long would be a long term project.
we ended up getting tippa the following year, by then he was a cult hero jn the Vfl and could have been snaffled up by another club.
Imagine if he was doing this at another club…
Grinding out hard fought wins with injuries to some of our best players. All whilst whining in spectacular style off the foot of a genius indigenous star.
Anyone could be forgiven for thinking we’ve gone back in time 20-30 years.
Yeah yeah, but what has he done recently?
I reckon I’ve seen his last two goals 30 times across the weekend, and still giggle at how incredible they are.
Reckon he’s helped his contract $$ a bit.
As @Stallion said “comfortably the most marketable player at Essendon.”
We’ll re-sign him for his football ability. But the marketing stuff is a massive bonus.
I can’t remember anyone quite like him at Essendon - for what he does on the footy field, but also personality wise. We’ve had some incredible players who played sublimely, but his cult status is quite different.
even my 2 year old was yelling TIPPA at the TV.
may have been coerced by her father…
nah, that’s just called good parenting
if there’s any footy on tv, it’s “GO BOMBERS”, hands up in the air cheering. she gets it.
next up, the 5 month old. then, my work on this planet is done.
Apparently both the goals are up for goal of the year this round.
Sneaky way to split the vote and ensure neither of them win!
Let’s establish who we should be voting for before we do…
0 voters
Tippa has his own cult now.